A slight shift in topic here, but if I ever get the chance to play Marathon IV I'll need to know one thing... What is the basic plot line in the first three? I know there is supposed to be an eratic AI and aliens invade, but that is about it.

Dwight Shrute: "The showing of teeth is a sign of submission among primates. Everytime somebody smiles at me, all I see is a chimpanzee begging for mercy."

360 degrees = one revolution. New Nintendo console = the revolution. Then there is the PS3. Switch 360 to 063, pull up part of the O until it becomes a P, pull off the lower left of the 6 until it becomes and S, and you see, they are very much the same console. Apple realizes that the console market is stagnant but also the wave of the future. As other consoles move to PowerPC chips, intel was afraid of getting squeezed out, and so the unholy alliance was formed but not with the main focus being computers – they want to corner the console market which is what the shrinking footprint of Apple's computers has been preparing for. Bungie, recognizing innovation, desperately want a stab at the Pippin, or the Super Revolution Pippin Genesis as it is known in Japan, and are looking for a way to jump ship.

That will be the last post I'll allow in this topic about that other subject. There are a few massive threads all about the whole "hubbub"... so take it there. This thread is about -> MARATHON IV <-. Got it? Good.

-Fm [1oM7]
"I'm not incorruptible, I am so corrupt nothing you can offer me is tempting." - Alfred Bester

A slight shift in topic here, but if I ever get the chance to play Marathon IV I'll need to know one thing... What is the basic plot line in the first three? I know there is supposed to be an eratic AI and aliens invade, but that is about it.

There is some text from the manual here which sets the scene for the first game. Other than that, you could just play them now that they're released as freeware (Aleph One/M1A1 required for OS X native operation.)

Finally, there's more information than you could ever want and enough rampant speculation about weird coincidences to make your head explode at the Marathon's Story Page.

also the first game to include a fifth dimension. Though it is arguable that the original marathon engine managed this first, with the ability to have more than one room overlapping into eachother, for some truly tripped out level design. No game engine has managed this since, and I think that as a crazy and probably pointless feauture it should make its return

marathon story page is the place for everything, no matter how remote, related to marathon, and a generally fabulous page.

Whats sad is that Bungie is now a very different company. half the oldies have left. Tuncer, Seropian, etc. etc. So the chances of Marathon 4 having as intricate a story as the original trilogy, delivered in a similar manner, with as many little slip ups which can then be blown out of proportion (sorry battle cat, im sure they were all intentional really) on the story page, let alone actually being made are very slim.

Heres an interesting point tho (not entirely related) but Marathon 1&2 were in house, infinity (3) was done by others, Myth 1&2 were bungie, 3 was by a different unrelated company altogether. Does that mean that now that Halo1&2 are technically finished, 3 will be outsourced? or will 3 actually be 2.5 and 4 be outsourced to another dev by microsoft. But my actual point is that no series has ever gone past a trilogy, and even then hasnt survived as a pure bungie title, so what are the chances of marathon 4 being made? and by Bungie? and for mac? 0.000000000000000000007 (bit of counting for you)

A slight shift in topic here, but if I ever get the chance to play Marathon IV I'll need to know one thing... What is the basic plot line in the first three? I know there is supposed to be an eratic AI and aliens invade, but that is about it.

No, that's it, you got it. The Marathon Trilogy in a nutshell.

Of course you can split that out into mind crushing detail that will take you years of solid study, discussion and reading to flesh out. But first, play the games... live in the moment, become the 10th cyborg. The galaxy and the fate of vast civilizations: past, present, and future is depending on you.

Whats sad is that Bungie is now a very different company. half the oldies have left. Tuncer, Seropian, etc. etc.

Yeah, and the guy that the writing is attributed to left after Marathon 2, making Infinity with his new company, which is why Infinity has such good writing (and Halo, IMHO, didn't). The new company was supposed to make a game called Duality, but they unfortunately went under.

tBC is going to be the central figure of M4? Cool. Who's going to play tBC in the movie version?

not the Battle Cat, on June 15th 2005, 10:02 AM, said:

::tBC makes the motions of zipping his lips, locking them with a little key, then dropping the key down between his heaving breasts::

Is there a video of this? I'll pay to see it. I'll even watch it for free! Please!

Frigidman, on June 15th 2005, 11:23 AM, said:

No thain, some like to THINK they know, when in fact they do not.

I think I don't think I don't know what I think I don't quite know. And that's a fact!

-

Does posting like this annoy anyone? I'm trying to avoid making a bunch of little posts. (I don't care about my post count. In fact, any admin out there want to make it negative? Now that would be cool. A permanent -42 would be great. Anything permanent with 69 would be bad as I am very happily married.)

One Way of Looking at Life
Good to be a Master.
Better to be a Teacher.
Best to be a Student.

why not a permanent "-Tru7h" ? thatd be like, so cool. Im sure it doesnt have to be numbers.. I dont mind it, definitely prefer it to lots of little posts. i actually went back and added the whole likelyhood thing after tBC posted...
Speaking of likelyhood... with odds like that, it HAS to happen.
I wondered what happened to that guy, wasnt he like an astronaut who had mashed his head collapsing on a table or something? was totally skitz im sure of it (if hes reading this, then Id just like to say I love him for it), who else could come up with rampancy? gotta read the trilogy booklet again... The stories havent been the same since. Mara4 would need him. And no offence to Joe and Jason, but theyre not even in the same league. Noone is. Myth was very hidden away with parts of the story, theres a whole war that happened and we know next to nothing about it... But halo is very open and bare. Sure, theres lots of speculation, but thats cos the story isnt finished yet. And anyway, we all know whats going to happen. Marathon? blow up a sun? no problem. have unpronounceable names? sorted. Have a clue whats really happening? nope, your just doing what youre told to. Brilliant.
Wasnt PiD written by him too?

tBC is going to be the central figure of M4? Cool. Who's going to play tBC in the movie version?

Bender

Quote

Does posting like this annoy anyone? I'm trying to avoid making a bunch of little posts.

No, what you are doing is just right. You see the "+ Quote" button down there by the '"Reply' button? That is to make it easy to quote a bunch of different posts and answer them in a single reply. You are working the system.

I wondered what happened to that guy, wasnt he like an astronaut who had mashed his head collapsing on a table or something? was totally skitz im sure of it (if hes reading this, then Id just like to say I love him for it), who else could come up with rampancy? gotta read the trilogy booklet again... The stories havent been the same since. Mara4 would need him. And no offence to Joe and Jason, but theyre not even in the same league. Noone is. Myth was very hidden away with parts of the story, theres a whole war that happened and we know next to nothing about it... But halo is very open and bare. Sure, theres lots of speculation, but thats cos the story isnt finished yet. And anyway, we all know whats going to happen. Marathon? blow up a sun? no problem. have unpronounceable names? sorted. Have a clue whats really happening? nope, your just doing what youre told to. Brilliant.
Wasnt PiD written by him too?

Greg Kirkpatrick. And I don't think Myth or PiD was written by him (though a brief look at the PiD manual shows them giving him thanks). My understanding was that the three of them (Alex, Jason, and Greg) threw together the general story, but that it was Kirkpatrick who actually wrote everything. I think he struck a good balance between obscure references and mystery and the actual need to tell a story and hold interest. At some point the Cortana letters started feeling like an obscure reference hunt (though I still would have prefered that Cortana to the one in Halo). I think Kirkpatrick does non-gaming computer work now, I found him referenced in a blog about a year back.

Reading the Gherrit White terminal again, I remember what I liked about Marathon. Anyone care to explain to me the crazy men in black terminals that Double Aught did?

But......... wasn't Halo really Marathon 4 anyway? Even down to the: "They're everywhere" grab. I loved the first two, both truly gripping games. But by three the appeal had worn off and I never finished it.

i would love to see a rampant cortana, but they cant do that and wont... they got tosave humanity, and alaso, almost noone would understand, being windows users, and not having played marathon... if there hadnt been the buyout, and it had been for mac, then maybe it wouldve been more obscure.

Now that theres only one of the original three, its much simpler. Greg even did al the fleshing out, its true that Jason came up with the general story arc (i think) for almost all the games, but writing all the little obscure bits needs to be done by someone like greg to get the sheer dementedness that is a Rampant AI (possibly another reason why cortana wont get rampant).

i would love to see a rampant cortana, but they cant do that and wont... they got tosave humanity, and alaso, almost noone would understand, being windows users, and not having played marathon... if there hadnt been the buyout, and it had been for mac, then maybe it wouldve been more obscure.

Yeah, I was just thinking – "What would Marathon be without Durandal? A good shooter, to be sure, but a fairly pedestrian story. Evil aliens attack, you have to kill them. The Pfhor were never that interesting. In fact, it always seemed like they were pawns in the battle of the AI's (and in the first one, Durandal's escape plan). Durandal is a great twist, and seems to take shots at shooters in general. You're pretty much trapped into doing what the creators have planned for you and have little to no free will of your own. And Durandal says this, and taunts you with it. He's going to be free, and you're going to be his pawn. A computer with free will while the human (the player, if not the marine) has none. Halo didn't seem to have a fraction of this, at least from what I've seen of it.

teflon, on June 16th 2005, 02:29 AM, said:

Now that theres only one of the original three, its much simpler. Greg even did al the fleshing out, its true that Jason came up with the general story arc (i think) for almost all the games, but writing all the little obscure bits needs to be done by someone like greg to get the sheer dementedness that is a Rampant AI (possibly another reason why cortana wont get rampant).

Yeah, and beyond the crazy computer ramblings, there was just the wierd stuff thrown about that kept you guessing. Short and somewhat disturbing vignettes thrown about that may or may not have anything to do with the story (like the aforementioned Gherrit White and men in black stories). My guess is that these were all things Greg just cooked up in his head and decided to throw about. It gave the game a very surreal aspect. Jason may have come up with the general story arc, but you're right, the general story isn't that amazing (not that it's bad). It's all the crazy mind games that really keeps you coming back.

But......... wasn't Halo really Marathon 4 anyway? Even down to the: "They're everywhere" grab. I loved the first two, both truly gripping games. But by three the appeal had worn off and I never finished it.

If 4 ever sees daylight it had better be bloody good.

No, Halo was Halo. Completely different game, storyline and even universe. But it's filled to the brim with Marathon references for us dedicated fans... that doesn't make it Marathon IV though. Just because a game/movie puts in a few Matrix references these days doesn't make it Matrix IV after all... Bungie is just not very subtle with their references

You shouldn't ask yourself such worthless questions. Aim higher. Try this: why am I here? Why do I exist, and what is my purpose in this universe?

(Answers: 'Cause you are. 'Cause you do. 'Cause I got a shotgun, and you ain't got one.)